The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said that it has attached three properties worth over Rs six crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in connection with the Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam case. The attached properties include Congress Bhawan in Sukma. The ED also claimed that Kawasi Lakhma, the then Excise Minister of Chhattisgarh was receiving Rs 2 crore per month out of liquor scam.
“Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Raipur Zonal Office, has provisionally attached three immovable properties worth Rs 6.15 Crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in connection with Chhattisgarh Liquor Scam case. In terms of the investigation, following buildings have been found to be constructed out of Proceeds of Crime (POC) and have therefore been attached: Congress Bhawan, Sukma, in the name of Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee; a residential house at Raipur in the name of Kawasi Lakhma; and a residential house at Sukma in the name of Harish Kawasi (son of Kawasi Lakhma),” said the ED.
The ED said that it initiated an investigation based on an FIR registered by ACB/EOW Chhattisgarh under various sections of IPC, 1860 and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 in the matter of the Liquor scam in Chhattisgarh.
“ED investigation revealed that Kawasi Lakhma, the then Excise Minister of Chhattisgarh was receiving Rs 2 Crore per month out of liquor scam and thereby received POC Rs 72 Crore in 36 months. Investigation conducted led to seizure of crucial pieces of evidences which demonstrated utilization of cash by Kawasi Lakhmain construction of properties mentioned above. Cash worth Rs 68 Lakhs was employed in the construction of Congress Bhawan, Sukma; Rs 1.40 Crore was utilized in the construction of the house of Harish Lakhma and Rs 2.24 Crore was utilized in the construction of his own house at Raipur. Kawasi Lakhma is presently under judicial custody,” said the probe agency.
The ED said that it had earlier attached properties worth Rs 205 cr in the case. “It is pertinent to mention here that the said attachment is in continuation to the previous attachment of immovable properties having a value of nearly Rs 205 Crore,” it said.
It further said that the investigation revealed corruption in the liquor scam which ran between 2019 to 2022 resulted in massive loss to the State Exchequer and generation of more than Rs 2,161 Crore worth of POC by commission of predicate offences.
Stay informed on all the , real-time updates, and follow all the important headlines in and on Zee News.
